TCP: Always Cool
by Sonnevi
Summary: Some people just want to play without worrying about the end of the world...


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Date: 27 Nov. 2001  
Author's notes: Was feeling hot today, and started to indulge in some wishful thinking...  
Warnings and disclaimers: Long and wordy (oh, yeah...that's normal...forget I said anything). Not TCP, strictly speaking, as I understand the term, but don't know how else to classify it. All characters belong to them as made 'em ... X-men Marvel's, TCP to Kielle and those other wonders...  
  
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TCP: Always Cool  
by Sonnevi  
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Me? A superhero?   
  
Nah. Just your ordinary Joe, that's me. Except for *that*, of course. People don't really notice, and that's all right by me. I don't want Sentinels on *my* tail, thanks very much.  
  
It's hardly noticeable, really. It's just that things are always cool around me. And that's literally, not metaphorically. Nothing overheats. The day isn't so hot. No need to swelter.   
  
It's pretty cool, if you'll pardon the pun. And fun, too, I gotta admit.   
  
I suppose the scientists would come up with some fancy name for it if they knew, but to me, it just is. They'd probably go crazy over the ramifications, but I like to think that I've got most of them down. Including the fact that I have no need to freeze in winter, either.  
  
I don't really know how it works. I just take the heat or kinetic energy or something. I was about five when it first happened, and about eight when I realized that it wasn't normal. I touched a candle-flame, it was hot, and then not. The candle was still burning. I was entirely fascinated by the flames, how it behaved as I moved my finger here or when I touched the wick just so. Looking back, I'm lucky I didn't burn the house down, messing around like that. My dad caught me with a candle some time after, and that was the end of that.  
  
Until I learned about thermometers. Luckily, I was also old enough to be trusted with a candle by then.   
  
I discovered I could put a thermometer right at the edge of the candle flame and have it register room temp. When my control became better, I could put it into the middle of the fire that way. Nowadays, I can even put the fire out by taking away enough kinetic energy, but what'd the fun be in that?   
  
After a while, I decided to experiment some more. If I could take it away, could I put it back?   
  
Several small fires and burnt things later, I concluded that yes, I could.   
  
After a *lot* more practice, I had it down pat. Cool in summer, warm in winter. Easier to take it away than putting it back, but I guess that's safer.   
  
Can it work the other way, to freeze something? Yes, but that takes even more effort than burning something. I'm no Iceman. I burned the first things because I concentrated too hard the wrong way.   
  
Still, I figure it's a safety feature. Since it takes effort, I'm less likely to burn or freeze something by mistake. My power seems to work best at evening things out. Making things a little cooler than room temperature, that's so easy, I do it without thinking. I decided way back when that there's so much extra energy being wasted as heat, especially in summer, that I might as well make use of it.   
  
Honestly, think about it. Most everything mechanical gives off waste heat. The fans in air conditioners and cars are meant to draw off heat. Freezers, too (ever felt the _back_ of a freezer? It works on the same principle as an air conditioner, after all). Even batteries give off a little. Factories. Heck, computers and monitors give off a noticeable amount. And don't forget free sunshine on roofs and parking lots.   
  
It's handy. I save tons on electricity and such. No need for a water heater, electric fan, thermostat, or even a cooker. The average amount I gather from all around me (and even I don't know how far around) is gracious plenty -- to cook something takes something less than a thimble's worth (you don't know how much I had to practice to make things edible, though). I estimate that it doesn't even amount to the heat from the freezer coils (I told you that I don't like to freeze things, so yes, I do still have a freezer).   
  
How far does it go? I don't really know. I do know that I have made it subconscious. I have to remember to wear winter clothes to go along with fashion, but my personal temperature would be the same whether I wore a coat in summer or walked nude in winter, awake or asleep. People who come into my home automatically take off their coats, so no complaints about my nonexistent mechanical thermostat there. And I like to think that they do feel better immediately after stepping in, even if their lips were blue on the doorstep. On the other hand, there've been those long, extended goodbyes even when they've already put back their coats, and they never mentioned feeling warm, either, so all in all, I figure personal comfort extends to them, too.   
  
I practice sometimes, because it really *is* fun. You know those shirts that change color when you heat or cool them? I've managed several credible works of art on them. I've taken pictures and let people believe it was all computer-manipulated, but nothing like the fine art of control to make me smug inside. Branches and lines to abstract art and all.   
  
When I felt I must've gathered too much energy (though I never know where it goes, and I don't know how much is out there, and I don't actually feel anything, really. No internal gauge or feeling full or anything), I discovered the best part of all.   
  
Lasers.   
  
I practice lasers on rocks and metal. I'm not sure if it's a laser, strictly speaking, but that's how I think of it so that it works best. It's actually super-concentrated heat, as narrow as it can get. I suppose all those molecules moving around on such a narrow band will make light whether I like it or not. So, I guess it's safe to call it a laser.   
  
I'd practice freezing, but since I think I'm trying to get rid of what I draw in, I figure there's not much point. There aren't many things I want to freeze anyway, except for drinks, so I do practice on those.   
  
Sometimes.   
  
I guess it's like doing lasers in reverse, and why would I want to have it on all the time? It's not nearly as interesting.  
  
Why doesn't my food become cold?   
  
Honestly? I don't know. My theory is that my power likes things to be comfortable. Or maybe it's because I subconsciously pay attention to food, or that I have subconsciously already categorized what's good to leech off, and what not. Whatever. I'm just grateful. Imagine the trouble if I really made _everything_ room temperature. My freezer would be shot. So would any chemical or mechanical process that required heat, including cooking my food.   
  
I'd miss lasers most of all.  
  
Okay, I'll be really honest while I'm at it. I practice lasers whenever I can, whenever I feel like it, as long as nobody sees, and who cares about energy?   
  
Did I mention that they're fun?   
  
Thin lasers, then thicker ones. (You make thicker ones by making lots of thin ones side by side. If you try for a big laser, it doesn't work. All you get is a tunnel of heat that goes nowhere. Just so you know.)   
  
As close to the target as you can get, immediately on the target, if possible, or even inside.   
  
I like generating them on the exact spot. Why waste a laser in the air, anyway? And why take the chance of burning my fingertip by making one from my finger off to the rock if I don't have to? (I doubt I would, but then again, that candle-flame *was* hot for a moment).   
  
On the other hand, they _are_ pretty, so yeah, I do make them in the air. Just not near me or anything flammable.  
  
Like I said, I make as many kinds as I can think of. Long ones, short ones, as pinpoint as I can get. I have a rock which looks drilled halfway. I'm particularly proud of the fact that it was drilled *outward*. You heard me. Started from the middle of the rock, straight out to the edge, and no further.   
  
I'm working on making one hollow. Sculpting next.   
  
Mathematically speaking, I even think about round and shaped ones. If I can make laser bars mid-air, those are lines. Two parallel horizontal, two parallel vertical, there's a square. I should be able to draw them like toothpicks into any shape -- triangles, grids, molecular models. Even rings. That's in geometry. Small infinite edges together becoming points, that's a circle.   
  
If I flatten a thick laser enough, I'd have a laser disk (ahem, let's call it a laser slice instead). Once I have a slice, I should be able to make solid shapes -- cubes, pyramids, and what have you. Again, I could theoretically even make a sphere. I'd just need lots and lots of pinpoint lasers making something whole. Like pointillism in art.   
  
Now that's an idea. Laser pointillism in wood. Or even metal.   
  
Cool. The trick will be to make it in one go. I could do one slowly, no problem. The challenge would be in how many lasers I could make at once.   
  
Instant art. Something to think about.   
  
Then again, theoretically, if I had enough fine control, I should be able to make holograms and full-laser light sculptures without having to bother with a solid medium of stone or metal.   
  
Maybe I could even burn my own CD's, if I knew how deep and what bits. Theoretically possible, but impractical. Extremely useless, now that I think about it.  
  
Boring, too. Let's work on hollow rocks first.  
  
The only downside (aside from making sure nobody sees me playing) is making sure that nothing explodes from heating too fast. I read up a lot on heat and lasers to make sure. Aren't public libraries cool?   
  
I'm still looking for, you know, my passion. My job's ok, but all these books say I should find my passion and go for it. I could go into gardening, things would always be at the right temperature, but I read that they need light and other stuff, too, and it seems like too much work.   
  
I wonder whether I should become a firefighter. I could save a lot of lives, even if I didn't actually use my power to put out the fires. But I feel that would be too obvious.   
  
Making lasers isn't obvious? So sue me, I never said I was sensible.   
  
It's just that -- people never really notice temperatures unless they're uncomfortable, so it just passes under everyone's radar. Aside from lasers and cooking, my most active power is quite passive, unless I should somehow flaunt it, or slip up.   
  
Just the way I like it.  
  
Despite my gather-too-much-energy-so-I-can-play-lasers excuse, as far as I can tell, my storage capacity is infinite and holds indefinitely. (How should I know if the heat keeping me warm this winter came from 5 summers ago or from the neighbor's car anyway?) I don't really keep it when I take it, and I don't really generate it when I want it. It's just there, it just is. I've never run out, not even in winter, even if I've been playing lasers all day.   
  
Of course when I say I play with lasers, I mostly work on fine stuff like holes and carvings, like I said. It doesn't really tax the storage supply I estimate I've got.   
  
I've never really gone all out. I wonder what it'd be like, sometimes.  
  
I know I gather a lot all the time, and that I've become stronger.   
  
How do I tell, when I said I have no actual feel of my power? Well, I couldn't do lasers before, for one thing. They're quite easy now. At least I know I can defend myself if a Sentinel does come by.   
  
Other than that, it's little things, really. I've never heard complaints about anything overheating, or even overcooking, while I was around. Mrs. Bailey has moved on to complaining about her dripping faucet. My friend tries overclocking his computer, and it always works better when I'm around, though he thinks it's coincidence, his computer likes me.   
  
I wonder if soon, people in my neighborhood will be among the few that don't complain about global warming...  
  
I saw the news about mutants like me. The X-men, they said they were called. They had a lady who could control the weather and a guy who shoots lasers out of his eyes.   
  
Crazy of them to go all out that way. I guess we can't all be blessed with spot distance lasers. I wouldn't want to call attention to myself the way they do. Me, I'd just hide, and let my lasers speak long distance. Fried internal circuitry sound good? No one'd ever know where it came from...   
  
Maybe if I joined them, I could do lasers all day and see how much I could really do. Blowing up Sentinels sounds like a good excuse for fun. And I'd see how different this weather-lady is from me. Maybe...  
  
But I'm not out to make waves. Passion or no passion, I can play lasers even without going out and wearing some suit. I can even go without lasers if it means I can keep my head.   
  
I just want to keep my cool.   
  
--Fin-- 


End file.
